The Woodstock Film Festival is pleased to announce that actor PAUL RUDD is confirmed for a special talk on Wednesday Oct. 2, 4 - 5:30 PM at the Kleinert-James Art Center in the town of Woodstock. Joe Donahue, Vice President, News and Programming at WAMC Northeast Public Radio and host of the Roundtable, will host the talk.

Rudd began his career as an actor in the 1995 film Clueless alongside actress Alicia Silverstone and directed by WFF alumni, Amy Heckerling. Rudd is best known for his roles in films I Love You Man, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Role Models, Our Idiot Brother, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and This Is 40. He is currently starring in David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche and will next star in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues on December 20, 2013.

The upcoming WFF special talk featuring Rudd will discuss his extensive work in the film and television industry as well as his unique comedic style and the running gags that have made him a household name on top of his Hollywood success.

From punk rock mosh pits and sold-out stadiums to the Great White Way, this electrifying documentary follows Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong as he works with Broadway veterans to turn his mega-hit album, American Idiot, into a Broadway musical. The film goes behind the scenes to reveal the creative choices and challenges made by Grammy® winner Billie Joe and Tony® winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) to create the thrilling and one-of-a-kind musical experience.

More than just a making-of profile, Broadway Idiot is a portrait of a world-famous artist having the guts to try something totally new. The film grants insider access to the actors' rehearsals, the creative team's process and live performances that reveal Billie's transformation from rock star to Broadway star. Broadway Idiot provides a unique window into the art of theater as rock stars and stage stars collide and create something never seen before. READ MORE

SHORT FILM HIGHLIGHTS

1982Directed by Jeremy Breslau
New York PremiereQ&A with director Jeremy Breslau, producer Gina Breslau and actor Jakob Wedel
A blocked novelist reflects on a pivotal year in his life when, as a precocious six-year-old, he struggled for the attention of his bickering parents.

"I wanted to explore that transitional period in childhood when we begin to realize that our world is a lot less secure than we thought it was," says writer and director Jeremy Breslau, who is currently developing two feature films utilizing the talents of the 1982 team.

1982 is screening with the short film program FAMILY. For more information, click HERE.

THE BIG LEAPDirected by Kristoffer Rus
Economics meet religion and philosophy in Kristoffer Rus' post-apocalyptic short The Big Leap, where three forlorn strangers rendezvous atop a skyscraper in confrontation of their own mortality amidst a major financial crisis. Shot in Poland, this film takes a surprising turn as suicidal tendencies turn to questionable convictions, the only way for the three strangers to come to a conclusion is by taking a big leap into the unknown.

The Big Leap is screening with the short film program DYSTOPIA. For more information, click HERE.

Drea, a 20-something woman living in Brooklyn, struggles to make progress in her own life while being the sole caregiver for her father, who has Alzheimer's.

Care is directed by Brett Wagner and produced by Woodstock Film Festival alum, Mynette Louie. Former WFF volunteer coordinator Lisa Myers, production designed.

Care is screening with the short film program SHE TOO. For more information, click HERE.

EDDIE ADAMS: SAIGON '68Directed by Douglas Sloan
The story underlying the most influential and electrifying photograph to come out of the Vietnam War – and how the picture transformed the lives of Eddie Adams, who captured the moment on film, and Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the man who pulled the trigger.

The film reveals the little known, and very surprising, back-story and follows the complicated, conflicted lives lead by Adams and Loan both before and after the photo transformed world opinion. The film also launches a broader inquiry into our perception and understanding of the visual image. Is there something about that photo – about many such images – we should know other than what we see?

Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 is screening with the SHORT DOCS I program. For more information, click HERE.

IN THE BLINDQ&A with director Davis Hall and producer Ingrid Price
World Premiere

Nick Sandow (Orange is the New Black, Third Watch) and Neal Huff (Moonrise Kingdom, Meek's Cutoff) are estranged brothers struggling with their father's apparently self-inflicted death. In this adaptation of an Adam LeFevre play, the two must first understand their absent father, then each other, in order to know the truth. Shot almost entirely in a 5' x 10' set, this incredible journey takes place in a small space that resonates.

Director Davis Hall screened at WFF in 2011 with the NY premiere of his directorial debut Mother's House, with co-star Nick Sandow's feature narrative Ponies world premiering the same year. In the Blind was shot in the Hudson Valley in May 2013 and will make its world premiere at the 2013 Woodstock Film Festival.

In the Blind is screening with the short film program CONVERSATIONS. For more information, click HERE.

THE INTERVIEWERDirected by Genevieve Clay-Smith and Robin Bryan
East Coast Premiere

Thomas Howell is a lawyer looking for more in life - the chance to make a difference in the world. When he snags the opportunity of a lifetime ˆ an interview at a prestigious law firm for his dream-job‚ working in the pro-bono department he realizes that his chance to make a difference is closer and more unexpected than he could ever imagine.

The Interviewer is screening with the short film program WHOOPS. For more information, click HERE.

The River is a comedic journey to the river with a pregnant Maria (Lauren Ambrose) on a sweltering hot day. Her loving-kindness practice is tested by a variety of difficulties along the way. With work schedules, mechanical failures, and complex human relationships conspiring against her, Maria must rely on her improvisational resourcefulness to carve a path to a desperately needed cooling dip.

The River is screening with the short film program SHE WON. For more information, click HERE.

In a time different from our own, two teenagers, Sam and Sylvia, meet in the ruins of a forgotten train station. For the first time in both their lives they dance and discuss the troubles of their torn pasts.

Director Jack Warren is in the 10th grade at Onteora High School and Train is his first short film.

Train is screening with the short YOUTH FILMS program. For more information, click HERE.

Once taught by Louise Bourgeois and Brice Marden in exotic Tangier, local artist Kathy Ruttenberg was a fixture in New York's downtown scene in the '80s. In the 90's, she moved to Woodstock, where she now lives and works in the woods surrounded by her artwork and an impressive menagerie of animals. Her mythical characters evoke a wide range of emotions and issues, from anger and melancholy to sexuality and relationships.

David Kaplan is a writer/director from New York City. His credits include the feature films Today's Special and Year of the Fish as well as the acclaimed short films Play and Little Red Riding Hood.

Where Beasts Dwell is screening with the SHORT DOCS II program. For more information, click HERE.

PANELS

Actor Andy Garcia

Indiegogo's Slava Rubin

Peter Bogdanovich

Dir. Shawn Christensen

In addition to films, the Woodstock Film Festival is pleased to present a multitude of panels, where industry professionals come together to discuss the various topics relevant in the industry today.

BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEADDirected by Rob Kuhns
New York Premiere
Q&A with director Rob Kuhns and producer Larry Fessenden

1968: A year of peace, love and music? Try peace, love and the undead.

Rob Kuhns's feature-length documentary Birth of the Living Dead compiles original and found footage to provide a stunning portrait of George A. Romero and his 1968 cult classic, Night of the Living Dead. Kuhns explores the birth of zombie culture as well as the political and cultural backdrop of the 1960s that led to Night of the Living Dead's overwhelming success, revolutionary backbone and the ever-changing reception of our society to media violence.

Birth of the Living Dead goes beyond a standard behind-the-scenes documentary and taps into the distinctly independent and inspiring style of Romero's work, making this a must see for film lovers and filmmakers alike. Kuhns shows how this once highly criticized grindhouse flick has revolutionized the horror film genre and earned Romero's reputation as the godfather of zombies.

Akim grows up in Tunisia with a father who teaches him the healing powers inside him and in nature. When his father dies, Akim moves to France, only to discover that a pharmaceutical group is after his blood in search of a cure for a deadly virus. With outstanding cinematography of the surrounding environs and an intimate portrait of a dedicated man, director Thierry Obadia's plot twists and turns in this good versus evil tale, where we are never quite sure which side all the characters are on.

Starring James Lafferty, Aaron Hill, Jane Kaczmarek, C. Thomas Howell

LOST ON PURPOSEDirected by Eshom and Ian Nelms
NY PremiereStarring James Lafferty (One Tree Hill), Jane Kaczmarek and C. Thomas HowellQ&A with Director Eshom Nelms and with a musical performance by actor Peter Donovan, from the band All the Real Girls.

Ambling well past their mid-twenties, brothers Rooker (Lafferty) and Randall Lee are beginning to learn just how unaccommodating the universe really is. Rather than bend to their plans, it’s instead kept them working on a dairy farm for the past several years in the company of three close friends, Leslie, Jackie, Wade, and their boss Elizabeth James (Jane Kaczmarek). Ms. Liz is a woman whose unforgiving, temperamental nature is a force to be reckon with, even to a fault. So when co-op owner, Delbert Furgeson (C. Thomas Howell), threatens to dismantle her operation with a buyout, she’s more than ready to man the barricades and meet him head on. Meanwhile, the Lee brothers and friends come face-to-face with their own demons throughout the film, each struggling to find his place in the world.

MEDORAQ&A with directors Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart
New York Premiere

In a small town that seems to have been forgotten, directors Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart explore the convoluted lives of the Medora Hornets varsity basketball team. The dynamic of the run down, struggling town of Medora, Indiana directly reflects the disadvantage that their high school basketball team faces each year. The Medora Hornets, a small force stemming from a school of only 72 students, often find themselves competing against consolidated schools up to twenty times their size.

A once flourishing community teeming with employment opportunities, the termination of surrounding factories and the flooding of farms has stripped Medora of almost all-economic value. The film provides insight into the broken, conflicted homes that pervade the dwindling town and the eminent death of small-town America. The intimate relationship that forms between the players and the audience creates a moving and exciting documentary as we follow Medora's bittersweet basketball season as they look to create their own Hoosier dreams.

PURGATORIODirected by Rodrigo Reyes
Q&A with Director Rodrigo Reyes
10/4 Special Guest Lucila Moctezuma- Women Make Movies
TALK ON: The US-Mexico Border: Who decides who comes and who goes? Who gets to tell the story, whose story is it anyway?
East Coast Premiere

A line in the sand is drawn in Purgatorio, where only the desperate and courageous dare cross. Documentary director Rodrigo Reyes questions the role of humanity on planet earth and how the divisions we've created between one another have set in motion a millennium of adversities.

Fast forward to present day, where the border between the United States and Mexico echoes the mistakes of generations past as immigrants are taking great pains to find a better life north of the Rio Grande. They will endure heat exhaustion, dehydration, sexual assault and much worse. All of this to escape a world from where even the most devout must work from dawn until dusk under the baking sun in order to survive. Even then, the fatal whims of a stray bullet can still threaten to cut short a life of perdition, and deliver them to whatever waits beyond.

"Only through searching can the universe experience itself." Director Nik Fackler takes audiences along with a motley crew of addicts and personalities into the heart of Western Africa on a search for enlightenment with the help of iboga, a natural shrub made illegal in the 1960s due to its potent psychedelic properties. The group quickly finds itself trapped in Eden with the devil and God, or perhaps Fackler's version of this, where the camera is God while Ross, a drug-addicted conspiracy theorist, represents humanity.

Sick Birds Die Easyreveals human mental apocalypse as Fackler and friends search for meaning among madness, fact and fiction blending seamlessly as the crew heads deeper into the jungle. What initially began as a trip towards enlightenment becomes a desperate attempt at maintaining safety and sanity when the party turns sour, the fear of an ancient curse tearing relationships apart and resulting in a drug-addled if not edifying journey.

TOWN HALLDirected by Sierra Pettengill and Jamila Wignot
Q&A with both Directors
New York Premiere

Town Hall casts an unflinching eye at Katy and John, two Tea Party activists from the battleground state of Pennsylvania during the 2012 Presidential election, who believe America's salvation lies in a return to true conservative values.

In Katy, we see a political novice rocketed to media stardom after a sensational confrontation at a town hall meeting with her senator. A young stay-at-home mom turned Tea Party spokesperson, she is gifted a new identity, steeled by the voices of conservative media.

For John, a retired former businessman and lifelong Republican, the America he knows is slipping away. Heading up a local Tea Party group is his last, best chance at stanching the changes he is witnessing all around him.

More than a political treatise, Town Hall immerses the viewer in Katy and John's world, painting a portrait of the fears of those who believe they will be left behind by a nation's transition.

After killing two skinheads in a failed operation against NeoNazis, young undercover intelligence agent Daniel Klemm finds a hiding place and new friends in Berlin's Arab community. Realistic and witty, Berlin filmmaker Cüneyt Kaya shows the rapprochement of two worlds which seem violently opposed.

Wounded physically and psychologically, Daniel's cultural isolation breaks down as he becomes integrated into the Islamic community. Stereotypes vanish as we gain human perspective on a culture too often seen as radicalized. Here family bonds are strong, and Daniel's physical and psychological wounds begin to heal. But unable or unwilling to intervene when his friends are stopped and harassed by the police, Daniel feels the impotence of his own inaction. Is there redemption? And why do we fear the stranger? This is assured filmmaking, unflinching and timely.

MAVERICK AWARDS PREVIEW

Paul Green

The annual WFF MAVERICK AWARDS GALA has become one of the most talked-about events in the world of independent film and across the Hudson Valley, attracting nearly 500 filmmakers, industry and community leaders. Saturday, Oct. 5, 9pm at BSP Studios in Kingston. The event is open to the public with limited seating. Tickets are available at the Box Office orHERE.

Acclaimed director, actor, producer, film historian and writer Peter Bogdanovich will receive the honorary Maverick Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th annual awards ceremony. The award will be presented to Bogdanovich on Saturday, October 5 at the annual Maverick Awards Gala at Backstage Studio Productions in his hometown of Kingston, NY. In addition to accepting this honor, Bogdanovich will star in the film Cold Turkey by Will Slocombe, which will make its New York premiere at this year's festival. Bogdanovich will also participate in a special talk separate from the screening. Click HERE for more information.

Filmmaker and activist Mira Nair will be this year's honorary recipient of the 3rd annual Meera Gandhi Giving Back Award, which will be presented to Nair in person on Saturday night. In addition to accepting the award, Nair will participate in the annual BMI-sponsored Music In Film chat at the festival along with Mychael Danna, the Academy-Award winning film composer who recently won Best Original Score for his work on Life of Pi. The discussion will be moderated by Doreen Ringer-Ross, the Vice President of Film/TV relations at BMI.

The Awards Ceremony also includes presentation of awards for Best Feature Narrative, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Narrative, Best Short Documentary, Best Student Short, the Animation Award, the James Lyons Editing Award, the Diane Seligman Awards and the Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography.

HOUSE BAND AT THE 2013 MAVERICK AWARDS GALA - PAUL GREEN'S BAND OF MONKEYSThe legendary Paul Green, founder of School of Rock, subject of the documentary Rock School and inspiration for Jack Black in Richard Linklater's hilarious film School of Rock, along with a number of his former students, will provide the awards show music, showcasing themes from the some of the most popular movies ever made.

NOTABLE ATTENDEES

Rachel Brosnahan in CARE

Lauren Ambrose in THE RIVER

Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga
in AT MIDDLETON

With only a few days to go until the festival gets underway, Hollywood stars are crowding the still-growing line-up.
Among the World Premieres, U.S. Premieres, and East Coast Premieres making their debut, this year's lineup includes a notable number of A-Listers and industry personnel that are slated to grace the WFF big screens as well as the streets of our hosting towns.

Don't miss your chance to catch one (or many) of these fabulous names in film at WFF's upcoming events. Full-festival passes as well as tickets to screenings, parties, panels and special events are now available through the box office or online HERE.

2013 MERCHANDISE AND COMMEMORATIVE PROGRAM AVAILABLE NOW

This year's official merchandise features work by artist Scott Michael Ackerman, available on posters as well as womens, mens and unisex shirts.

WFF merchandise is currently available online HERE or at the WFF box office at 13 Rock City Road in Woodstock, NY. 2013 merchandise can also be found at Lovebird Studios at 430c Main Street in Rosendale (Sat and Sun from 1 - 8pm).

Posters, hats, mugs, sweatshirts and childrens clothing are just some of what is available at WFF. Be sure to get your gear now before it sells out!
Our 2013 merch can't be missed.

*Also, stop by for this year's extensive commemorative program filled with everything you want to know about the film, events and people at the 14th annual Woodstock Film Festival.

OUR 2013 SPONSORS

The Woodstock Film Festival would like to send out a special thank you to our sponsors. Without the help of our Platinum Sponsors, Gold Sponsors, Silver Sponsors, Superstar Sponsors, Award Sponsors, Foundation Support, State and Federal Support, Media Sponsors and Event Sponsors, the festival could not happen.

Please support our sponsors and thank them for their generous contributions to WFF!